Chapter 109. Captain Olly’s report
At first, Climbing Cindy Lizard Hill was a little surprised. He didn't expect to be interrupted so rudely. But he quickly calmed down. In a sense, this behavior is typical for an Aquatic Cindy. Without another glance at the others, he turned confidently and left the room.
Narekmeng just shook his head helplessly. He always felt particularly tired whenever he was dealing with other Cindy species. No matter what race you are, this is the case.
Ingemar was also allowed to attend an emergency meeting the next day. Clearly, the skipper believes that through this disciplinary measure, Ingmar has learned his lesson. And he's still part of the leadership team, so can't be left out forever. So Ingmar walked into the conference room. Although I was the last one to arrive, I was still on time. He feels good. Be healthy and get enough sleep. After all, he had one day. Since he was not allowed to leave his residence, he had a lot of time to relax. He had no regrets about confronting the captain and expressing his opinion about what he thought he had done wrong. He considered it his duty. A good officer must do this. Although Starfleet is a military organization, it cannot blindly obey every order. He is still a human being with his own judgment and moral code. He couldn't ignore this. Nor should it. He learned this from Captain Noah. And he will never give up on that, no matter what situation it puts him in.
He greeted his colleagues with a slight nod and sat down in his seat. Everyone else is already seated. They gave him only a brief glance. Some worry that if they stare into the captain's eyes for too long, they might be seen as complicit. Others thought his behavior was inappropriate. Not everyone shares his opinion of the Captain. Moreover, not everyone holds the same views and is willing to speak out publicly. Therefore, he is sure that in an emergency, he will always suffer because no one will support him.
"I'm glad we're all here now," the captain began. Ingmar felt that this statement was very unnecessary, and he felt himself getting angry again. He showed up on time, even a minute early. The captain was in no position to make such a veiled criticism. However, Ollie seemed to have either not noticed what he said or simply didn't want to talk about the issue further, as he simply continued: "As you all know, yesterday I landed on that planet with three of my colleagues and were under the influence of The reception of the Sindi. This is a very strange race, far from the internal peace of the Federation world. If it were about joining the negotiations, we might not come here at all." Ori Lion here refers to joining the United Stars One of the conditions of federation. These conditions stipulate that only planets that have emerged from interplanetary conflict and have established a global government with free elections for all are eligible to join. No single country is allowed to exist. The Sindis still have five different governments. This is clearly too much for one ethnic group.
Bartholomew interpreted Orius's brief pause as an encouragement to express his opinion about yesterday's experience. "Contact with the Sindi is a very interesting experience. You never know if you are dealing with one race or five different races. In reality, you know there should be only one, but when you see these creatures, you The feeling will give you a small discount," Bartholomew said excitedly. His scientific curiosity welcomed dealing with such a strange race. After all, in the known universe, it is extremely rare for multiple intelligent races to exist on a planet at the same time. And, if they do exist, there is usually one dominant race that dominates the others. Or the two races can only coexist. The simultaneous evolution of five completely equal and independent species of life is absolutely rare in the universe, at least in this galaxy.
The captain cast a brief glance at Bartholomew, clearly indicating that he thought the scientist's excitement was inappropriate. "Starfleet sent us here to find out the Sindi's intentions and the purpose behind them," Orishi continued gloomily. "Unfortunately, this information was not available to us yesterday. However, our discussions made it clear that the Sindi are not interested in genuine peace negotiations."
The surprise became evident to everyone in the room. No one expected this conclusion. Not even the officers who accompanied the captain yesterday.
"Captain, I don't quite understand..." Bartholomew began to say in confusion, but was immediately interrupted by Ollie.
"Well, that's obvious. The Sindy's reaction tells us a lot about their true intentions," Orishi explained reluctantly. "The crawling Cindy made no secret of his dislike for us and expressed his thoughts bluntly. The aquatic Cindy and the insect Cindy said almost nothing. It was like they had no interest in them. Narekmon and the plants Cindy was also not particularly interested in pleasing us. This clearly showed that they were not interested in real negotiations. Otherwise, everyone would have participated in the discussion and behaved in a normal manner."
"By what standards is normal?" Ingmar wondered. "By human standards?"
Ollie didn't even look at him and just said coldly: "You are not involved, you can't judge."
“But I am involved,” Bartholomew said clearly. "I disagree with your point of view." This was a clear objection to the captain, which surprised everyone.
However, Ollie remained unmoved. "I'm not interested in that," he muttered. Then, as if he had been frightened into speaking out his thoughts accidentally, he smiled indulgently at Bartholomew. "You are the scientist and see things from a different perspective. I, as the captain, understand the tactical maneuvers that can occur in these types of negotiations. Therefore, I am a better judge than you."
"If you think so," replied Bartholomew, somewhat unhappily. He promised not to speak again today.
"That's what I think," Ollie said nonchalantly. "Also, I have sent a report of yesterday's passage to Starfleet before this meeting." His words caused surprise. Because he took his crew as a fait accompli, making it clear that he was the captain. Everyone present agreed that the meeting with the Sindi would be discussed and evaluated again at this meeting. But that's not the captain's interest at all. He simply viewed it as an exercise in providing information to his officers. The assessment has long been completed by him personally.
In Ingmar's view, this was typical of a captain. This person must have an extreme psychological problem to always act like a superior. What is he trying to prove to whom, always making decisions alone? Did he want to prove to his superiors that he was justified in becoming captain? Is he capable of making decisions? Or is he trying to prove to himself that he deserves the position?
Ingmar didn't know. He couldn't assess either. But he was baffled that the captain did not seek input from the crew. If he discusses with his colleagues and asks for their opinions, is this a sign of weakness? of course not. After all, he is not omniscient and omnipotent and cannot fully understand all situations. Wouldn’t it be easier if you could rely on other people’s knowledge?
Since then, he has changed his mind on the issue. However, this has not always been the case. Previously, he also believed that captains must be omniscient and omnipotent, and if they raised questions themselves, they would be seen as weak and incompetent. However, he was later assigned as Captain Noah's mate and learned a lot. For Noah often conferred with his crew. He was always open to information, advice and criticism. If he thinks a certain point of view is correct, he can change his opinion. This is something Ollie would never do.
For Ingemar, the fact that the captain had submitted a report to Starfleet was unacceptable. And still with such a wrong view. If Starfleet accepts this report, and they certainly will for no other reason, then we will have missed the opportunity of a century simply because of one man's stubbornness and misguided attitude. This is unacceptable. "Captain, you have to revise the report. You have to clear things up," he said, trying to stay calm. "Otherwise we will lose an opportunity..."
"How do you know the Sindy aren't playing a double game?" interrupted Porterson, the captain's mate and an equally big idiot. His voice was cold and firm, like steel. It was very obvious that he didn't like Ingmar.
"It is impossible for the Sindi to pay such a high price for a trap. They expect a few ambassadors for a diplomatic conference, and it will not be much loss for them," Ingmar replied equally coldly. The accusations made by the captain and his mate were completely unbelievable.
"How do you know the Sindi think this way?" Porterson challenged him. "Perhaps it's based on your experience with the Sindi people? Didn't you just say a few days ago that you don't actually know the Sindi people? You have almost no contact with them?" He looked at Ingmar with eyes full of The confidence of victory. He had cornered Ingmar.
Ingemar also realizes this. Although Porterson's accusation has no basis at all. Ingemar simply used his mind to analyze the situation. The captain and his second-in-command were clearly unable to do this. But Ingmar himself was only using half his mind, too focused on the Sindi, and inadvertently gave Porterson the opportunity he had been waiting for. He felt like a newbie thrown into this situation. He was more than willing to slap himself. "Why would the Sindi do this?" he began to argue reluctantly, even though he knew no one would really listen to him now. "They have no reason to do this. There has been no connection between the Sindi and the Confederacy for decades. The Confederacy poses no threat to them if they continue that way."
Commander Porterson planned to make a fierce rebuttal, but was stopped by Atlan. The captain then leaned forward slightly and looked firmly at Ingmar. He made it clear that he would only say these words once. "In your observations, you always assumed that the Sindi really wanted to negotiate," he said slowly. "And you also assume that they are weaker than the Federation. However, we don't know that. When considering the problem, you must ignore the offer of negotiation, look at the big picture, and look at the situation objectively. In that case, you can only agree with me. ” His tone suggested the debate was over. He would not accept any more words on the subject.
So Ingmar remained silent, even though his heart was churning. He has tried and failed. Now he could only hope that the admirals had a wise idea and ignore the captain's report. But he would never bet on that.
Admiral Isaac is sitting at his desk, studying the latest data on the "Tokyo". Apparently, the spacecraft picked up a signal from sector P-497, which may have come from an inhabited planet. This is surprising because scientists had not previously predicted that there would be habitable planets there. Normally, such judgments are extremely accurate. Through deep space exploration and detector reconnaissance, it can be relatively certain whether a planet has the ability to produce life. However, this chance is quite slim. Although people may think that the universe is full of life, in fact, the number of inhabited planets is quite limited compared with the dead bodies and rubble that are not suitable for life.
So everyone was surprised when Tokyo picked up these signals.
These old radio waves have long spread out into the universe and, depending on their speed, may have been around for hundreds of years. Perhaps the civilization that produced these signals is long gone. Or their development process may be delayed. Regardless, there must be an explanation as to why the Federation never made contact with them. Scientists have made various speculations about this. There may have been various theories.
Isaac, like the other admirals and politicians, was full of curiosity. What will they encounter there? Is it a dead world? An extinct civilization? Or maybe a primitive society? But it could also be a new future member of the Federation. No one can tell in advance, which is why it’s so interesting.
Suddenly, the intercom buzzed beside his desk. He was slightly taken aback, not expecting anything. He immediately refocused and confirmed the communication connection.
"Admiral Isaac?" He heard the voice of his front desk lady. She is a bit old but very helpful and the embodiment of human warmth. Isaac would never trade her with anyone else. "Admiral Peng is here. He wants to see you. He said this is an important matter."
By the tone of her voice, Isaac realized that she did think this was an important thing. She's very sensitive about who handles what's really important and who's just blowing stuff. Over the years, he had learned to rely on this. He has never been disappointed. Therefore, he asked that visitors be allowed in.
Peng looked serious when he entered. It was obvious at a glance that he did not bring good news. He bit his lip tightly and his eyes looked narrow. His pale face seemed to accentuate this seriousness, even though he had always been thin.
"We've received a message," he said immediately, looking directly at his superior. He wasn't afraid of Isaac. After all, they've been working well together for a long time. And he is no longer young and does not need to flatter his boss. He's long past that stage. He is wiser now.
"Who sent the message?" Isaac asked, leaning back in his chair. Often, a message doesn't have to be unpleasant. Unless the message is about him.
"From the Sindi," Penn answered shortly.
